*when you purchase a lossless format, we include the MP3 free of charge

Please Note: On Mp3 format an unavoidable click may be heard on segue track breaks, to avoid this issue please select lossless

WARNING - you must enable Javascript in your browser to order higher quality download formats

DOWNLOADS

Select Complete Single Disc for

Songs, Dances and Consort Music for the Six Wives of Henry VIII

I Catherine of Aragon

FRANCISCO DE LA TORRE

1

Danza Alta

2:09

(x, g, k, v)

WILLIAM CORNYSHE

2

Whilles Lyfe or Breth

7:26

(a, c, p, u, bb)

ANONYMOUS

3

My Lady Wnykefylds Rownde

1:33

(m)

MATTHIEU DE GASCONGNE

4

Nigra Sum

4:59

(a, c, o)

ANONYMOUS

5

Adew le companye

1:09

(a, e, r, w, bb)

II Anne Boleyn

WILLIAM CORNYSHE

6

Blow this Horne

2:23

(a, l, t, q, h, aa)

ANONYMOUS

7

My Lady Carey's dompe

2:21

(m)

ANTOINE DE FEVIN

8

Adiutorium nostrum

2:53

(a, c, r, o)

ANONYMOUS

9

La Gamba

0:59

(i, c, r, o, bb)

10

Blame not my lute

3:53

(a, bb)

III Jane Seymour

11

Gentil Prince

0:41

(x, g, k)

12

Ev vray amoure

1:39

(x, g, k, v)

13

Kyng Harry VIII pavyn

1:49

(x, g, k, q, v)

14

Madame d'Amours

4:59

(a, w, f, r, o)

VINCENZO CAPIROLA

15

Ricercar

3:25

(bb)

ANONYMOUS

16

Duke of Somersett's dompe

2:22

(bb)

IV Anne of Cleves

17

Ainxi bon youre

1:35

(d, r, bb, n)

JACQUES BARBIREAU

18

Een vroulic wesen

1:21

(a, bb)

ANONYMOUS

19

La Danse de Cleves

1:43

(y)

V Catherine Howard

KING HENRY VIII

20

Time to pas with goodly sport

2:18

(a, d, w, r, o, bb, m)

ANONYMOUS

21

Prince Edwarde's pavyn

2:21

(d, s, z, j)

ATRIB HENRY VIII

22

Quam pulchra es

6:14

(a, i, c)

ANONYMOUS

23

The Kynges marke

1:16

(w, c, m)

24

Adew madame

1:43

VI Catherine Parr

25

Pavyn of Albart

1:37

(i, c, r, cc, o, b)

26

Galliard

1:25

(i, c, r, cc, o, b)

JOHN MARBECKE

27

A virgine and a mother

5:36

(a, c, o)

HUGH ASHTON

28

Ashton's maske

5:36

(i, c, r, o)

Signum Classics is proud to present Musica Antiqua’s seventh disc - Madame d;Amours; Songs, dances and consort music for the six wives of Henry VIII

Henry VIII is the most instantly recognisable of English kings: the heavy, square face with its fringe of beard, the massive torso, arms akimbo, feet planted firmly on the ground. His character, too, is familiar: ‘Bluff King Hal’, gorging himself at the table, flagrantly promiscuous, cynically manipulating the Church to suit his marital aims, the very archetype of chauvinism.

But scholarship reveals a very different Henry. Larger than life, certainly (six feet two inches tall, a colossal height for the time); but, as a young man, clean-shaven and with a halo of red hair, his waist was a mere 35 inches and his chest 42 inches. His table manners were refined to the point of being finicky, and the conduct of his sexual liaisons was (according to the French ambassador) almost excessively discreet.

An irresistible figure to the twentieth century early–music revival, Henry is shown by numerous hyperbolic contemporary accounts to have been an expert singer (with a clear tenor voice and able to sing at sight); a player of lute, flute, recorder, cornett and virginals; and a composer of sacred and secular music. Inventories made at the time of his death show him as an avid collector of instruments (including recorders, flutes, cornetts, viols and bagpipes). And two musical sources, one sacred (The Eton Choirbook), the other secular (The Henry VIII Ms), proved rich in music as dramatic, colourful and exotic as the king himself.

But there is more to Henry’s music than ‘Pastime with Good Company’ and the splendours of Eton’s polyphony. Henry inherited a modest musical establishment from his father, but bequeathed a large ‘Kynge’s Musicke’ to his heirs.

Henry’s queens were no mere observers of the development of music at his court. Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn both owned song–books which show a strong Franco–Flemish presence in Tudor music; Anne of Cleves augmented her small band of minstrels by borrowing players from Prince Edward’s household; improper relationships with musicians were cited in the cases against both executed queens; Jane Seymour’s royal wedding was celebrated with shawms and sackbuts; and Catherine Parr danced to her own consort of viols. In chapel and chamber, whether dancing, worshipping, singing, playing or listening, music was an important counterpoint to the lives (and sometimes deaths) of all of Henry’s six wives.

This disc does not set out to offer a comprehensive survey of music under Henry and his queens: rather it is a subjective selection of music from many contemporary sources inspired by, and, we hope, illustrative of six extraordinary lives.

"Listen to this disc and you will be treated to a Tudor banquet of music and song. Jennie Cassidy’s pure mezzo-soprano voice is a joy, while Philip Thorby’s Musica Antiqua of London provides superbly enthusiastic accompaniements. It’s worth taking time to read the comprehensive booklet notes, which explain the important part music played in the lives of Henry’s wives. A well thought-out and presented project." ****

John Brunning

Classic FM Magazine - April 2005

Performance *** Sound ****

"Madame D’Amours can seduce, but not with words. Aided by scholarship, this disc re-imagines the music presence of each queen at the court of Henry VIII. Musica Antiqua of London’s command of diverse repertoires, instruments and interpretive approaches allows it to flaunt differences between the music of Henry’s various consorts. Humour, cerebral sophistication and tenderness each find their proper expression in the knitting together of counterpoint and in the delicate rhythmic shading by the players. Particularly pleasing in the robust tone and freedom of line of Jacob Heringman’s lute solos."

Berta Joncuss

BBC Music Magazine - May 2005

"This is an excellent example of a themed CD springing from a much toured and played concert programme. Representing the period of Henry’s reign through music associated in one way or another with his wives may seem an obvious idea, but when it is as expertly done as this, with largely unknown repertoire interspersed with the more familiar items, and everything sung and played to perfection the results are very special indeed. Highlights among the unfamiliar material include an exquisite song by William Cornysh ’Whilles lyfe or Breth’ sung with a ballad-like spontaneity by Jennie Cassidy and a lovely setting of ’Quam pulchra es’ attributed to Henry VIII himself, while on more familiar ground we have a particularly raunchy ’Blow thi horne’ (again by Cornysh) and an unusual spinet and voice rendition of the mouthwatering partsong ’Adew madame’."